3rd Brake Light -> LEDs
#121
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Great, thanks.
War Pigs brings back some memories. I was in the USAF in W. Germany in the early 70s. The Security Police (SP) barracks was next to ours, and when the sirens would go off for a training drill, you would hear War Pigs blasting from the SP barracks Always got a kick out of that!
This looks like a great option. Wish they were available a year ago. for less than $20 including shipping for 30 of them I would have done that in a minute. nice find. I would be interested in seeing pictures of the installed product.
#123
Fun time to come...
Last edited by 911MSN; 05-19-2011 at 02:53 PM.
#124
And they are bright enough...
#125
wow, i'm glad this thread resurfaced. this is exactly what i'm looking to fix. my entire third brake light strip doesnt work at all and i couldnt figure out where the wires connected/lead to. didnt know i could just pop the plastic casing off.
is this a common problem?
is this a common problem?
#126
When you take the little red plastic base off these T5 leds you will see one leg of the LED is actually a tiny resistor - so they are in effect regular LEDs made to work with 12V by incorporating the resistor. I'll get you a picture of one later.
And they are bright enough...
And they are bright enough...
Additional order i made is this.
My plan is to have rigistors in each hole with LEDs. I see lots of soldering coming in my way.
#127
Ah I see - the T5 LEDs in my original ebay link, the ones I used, are 12V with an integrated resistor, and plenty bright. Still plenty of soldering but not too bad
#128
I have some parts here. I also found some old LEDs, which are 3mm but bright. I am also waiting on other LEDs. I'll have some comparason and will have report when it's all done.
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#131
#132
ok. i got my parts and did try out numbers of LEDs. I actually went back to light bulbs at the end. I just did not like how LED could not fill the bar with lights (if you know what i mean). Brightness wise, bright red LEDs did the trick (both 5mm & 3mm would do). Bright white and other "really bright ones" would be too much for this application. I did have wide angle (65 deg) LED in my mix but that could not fill the bar the way i liked.
BTW, 24 bulb consume around 1.7A (about 70ma each).
BTW, 24 bulb consume around 1.7A (about 70ma each).
#133
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ok. i got my parts and did try out numbers of LEDs. I actually went back to light bulbs at the end. I just did not like how LED could not fill the bar with lights (if you know what i mean). Brightness wise, bright red LEDs did the trick (both 5mm & 3mm would do). Bright white and other "really bright ones" would be too much for this application. I did have wide angle (65 deg) LED in my mix but that could not fill the bar the way i liked.
BTW, 24 bulb consume around 1.7A (about 70ma each).
BTW, 24 bulb consume around 1.7A (about 70ma each).
#135
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Hey Nick,
Here's a possible solution that may save you from trying to find your source. I like the idea of using one resistor instead of an individual resistor per LED or per set of LEDs. So, that said how about utilizing 5mm LEDs from someone like Superbrightleds.com and then a recommend on an appropriate resistor? I've played around with a couple of LED calculators and the results always recommend a resistor per set of LEDS instead of one for the entire array.
Specifically and selfishly here's the LED that I was thinking about using http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...%2Fr_specs.htm
If you can point me at an appropriate resistor I can likely source one locally.
Best,
Kei
Here's a possible solution that may save you from trying to find your source. I like the idea of using one resistor instead of an individual resistor per LED or per set of LEDs. So, that said how about utilizing 5mm LEDs from someone like Superbrightleds.com and then a recommend on an appropriate resistor? I've played around with a couple of LED calculators and the results always recommend a resistor per set of LEDS instead of one for the entire array.
Specifically and selfishly here's the LED that I was thinking about using http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...%2Fr_specs.htm
If you can point me at an appropriate resistor I can likely source one locally.
Best,
Kei